Interview
"Cross-platform games are the future of gaming"
Mad Hook Games CEO and co-founder Hazim Al-Hanbali discusses shifting mobile game mechanics and the challenges of finding talent
Top 50
Final weeks to nominate developers for PocketGamer.biz's Top 50 Mobile Game Makers 2024
Don't miss out - Nominations close on Friday, August 16th, 2024
Hot Five
Hot Five: Squad Busters breaks $50 million, EA’s mobile blueprint, and Finland’s "survive to 2025" mantra
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Aquisitions
Amber snaps up co-development studio Madbricks
Deal sees developer’s 40 staff join Amber’s global workforce of more than 850 employees
Podcast | Episode 23
Market intelligence challenges, and performers strike against AI | Week in Mobile Games podcast
The PocketGamer.biz podcast team give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and and what's inside this week's episode 23...
Executive Exit
Roblox CFO steps down
Michael Guthrie first joined the firm in 2018 and was part of the team that took it public in March 2021
Platform Growth
Roblox bumps up daily active users by 21% Y/Y as revenue grows to $894m in Q2
UGC platform racked up 17.4 billion hours of play during the last quarter
Week That Was
Scrapped games, big names, and the humans Vs AI war gets real | Week in Views
The Pocketgamer.biz team pick their highlights from the headlines this week and deliver the stories behind the stories
Mass Redundancies
Intel to lay off 15,000 staff as part of $10 billion cost savings plan
Plans will impact 15% of the company's workforce
New Offerings
Ubisoft teams up with NFL to launch new fantasy football game
The game allows players to collect cards and make decisions during the NFL regular season and playoff games
Funding News
Games studio 2weeks has raised $1.25m in pre-seed funding
The new studio will use the funds to create new projects including web-based titles
Data Intel
The future of mobile market intelligence
A look at the state of the data sector and why visibility is set to be a key challenge for generating accurate estimates
Industry Insights
How to survive 10 years in the games industry while failing
Bigfoot Gaming co-founder and CEO Joao Batista on how his team spent a decade to make its first successful game and offers advice on how you can do the same
Growing Chinese Games Overseas
SocialPeta Partnered with Liftoff to Release the Guide to Growing Chinese Gaming Apps Overseas
SocialPeta and Liftoff, have jointly released the report 'Guide to Growing Chinese Gaming Apps Overseas' based upon 133 billion ad impressions, 7.9 billion clicks, and 18 million installs gathered in 2023-24
Last Chance
Just 22 places left for the PG Mobile Games Awards 2024 in association with Gamelight
The swanky sit-down dinner ceremony in Cologne on August 20th is about to sell out
New Leadership
Jan Richter succeeds Ralph Stock as CEO of Sixteen Tons Entertainment
Richter has played a key role in developing successful titles at EA, Bigpoint, Mighty Bear Games, and ZeptoLab
Funding For Games
NCSoft invests $3.5 million in Swedish studio Moon Rover Games
The studio will use the funds throughout the development stage of its upcoming FPS game Project Aldous
Five New Games
New release roundup: The best new mobile games from mathematical puzzlers to the return of Jon Snow
We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
A Fresh Start
Ex-Unity and Scopely developers launch new studio, Outer Haven Games
Based in the US, the studio is already working on a role-playing anime-inspired game called Techno Infierno
King In The North
Zynga calls in Kit Harrington for Game of Thrones: Legends launch
Mobile ads are becoming increasingly star-powered, with Jon Snow himself promoting the latest puzzle RPG
Ea Q1 Financials
Electronic Arts: "FC Mobile is the blueprint for our mobile strategy"
Their profits may be down 30% but EA Sports FC Mobile made record net bookings while FC Mobile Madden NFL 24 earned double digit growth
Mena Workshops
Maysalward hosts Minecraft Education training workshop for teachers
The workshop trains teachers to integrate Minecraft Education into their classrooms
Speaker Reveal
Devcom 2024 reveals latest speaker lineup including Larian Studios, SIE Santa Monica Studio, IO Interactive and more
Developer conference takes place between August 18th and 20th, with talks starting from the 19th
Battle Royale
Celebrating seven years of Garena Free Fire's success
Free Fire's global marketing lead, Cindy Chen talks to us about what has kept the game going over the past seven years
Mena Market Growth
Saudi Arabia leads MENA in VC investments and games market growth in 2024
With 21 million active gamers, the KSA is MENA's largest games market to be valued at $6 billion come 2027
Resleriana Revenue
Atelier Resleriana adventures past $50 million via the power of fan-favourites
Most lucrative day coincided with release of Klaudia, a main character from best-selling game in the series Atelier Ryza
Trends Survey
What are the hottest trends right now? Let us know in the 2024 Mobile Games Industry Survey
All participants will get a 30% discount on tickets to PGC London. You'll also be in with the chance to receive a £200 Amazon gift voucher, a free ticket to PGC, and promotion on our sites worth up to $8,000
Layoffs
Bungie to lose 220 staff as it takes "a new path"
The Destiny, Halo and Marathon game dev giant is just the latest victim to fall foul of rising costs versus revenue rewards
Independent Ai
Mark Zuckerberg: “Nah, f*ck that”. Meta’s mouthpiece still isn’t a fan of closed platforms
Try to tell Zuck what game to play and he’s going to take his ball home
Microsoft's Mobile Mystery
Microsoft made $88 billion profit in FY2024 thanks to Activision Blizzard boost
Xbox revenue was up 61% in Q4 2024, but mobile specific figures remain a mystery
App Intelligence Magic
AppMagic’s CEO on raising $3m, market intelligence price wars, and ad revenue estimates
PocketGamer.biz speaks to Max Samorukov about the state of market intelligence and its plans for the future
Milestone
Whiteout Survival races past $1 billion revenue
The US leads as the game's top revenue region
This Means War
SAG-AFTRA takes the AI war to the next level with games industry strikes
From tomorrow 10 big names in games will see picket lines protesting the use of AI to replace human talent in games
Milestone
Netmarble's Solo Leveling: Arise has passed $100 million revenue
More than 30% of the game's revenue comes from South Korea
Interview
"Navigating the MENA region's funding landscape specifically in Saudi Arabia has been quite promising"
Starvania Studio CEO and co-founder Meaad Aflah discusses her studio's latest project and the opportunities and challenges facing Saudi Arabia's games industry
Rpg Reposition
RPGs overthrown by strategy genre as new consumer spending king
RPGs have topped consumer spending charts since "at least" 2017, but were dethroned in Q2 2024
Podcast
How AppHarbr puts a stop to bad ads before your users can see them | Podcast
The PocketGamer.biz podcast team and guests give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and what's inside this week's episode…
Ai Acquisition
GiantX acquires League of Legends AI coaching app maker iTero Gaming
The app, launched in late 2022, has been downloaded almost 250,000 times
Cash Splash
Q2 mobile app spending hits a new record of $36.2 billion
Apple owners are responsible for the latest spending surge for Q2 2024, though downloads in the quarter declined
Mobile Games Awards
Aghanim named as co-sponsor for the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2024
Event returns on August 20th to celebrate the industry's finest
Mena Trends
The trends and opportunities that are shaping Turkey's app market
Adjust’s Ender Özcan discusses what's new and what's driving growth in the MENA region
Multi-platform Gaming
Japan and Korea's 97 million gamers drive growth for multi-platform games
The latest Niko Partner's report shows a clear shift as Japanese mobile players embrace console and PC
Game Cancellation
Dinosaur Polo Club scraps Magic School in order to renew focus on its Mini series
The goal of Magic School was to explore new ideas beyond the studio's typical minimalist simulations. But it's an experiment that failed
German Gaming
German mobile gamers spent €2.9 billion in 2023, 98% via in-app purchases
The German video games industry more broadly generated €9.97 billion last year
Alternative App Stores
The Xbox Mobile Store lives… Or at least there’s a webpage for it
As their self-imposed July deadline draws to a close, could an official roll-out be imminent?
Squad Spenders
Squad Busters takings pass $50 million, but how does it compare to Supercell’s greatest hits?
The US currently represents the game's biggest market share, where it's earned $19.6 million so far
Funding News
dotplay raises $1 million funding to transform mobile game distribution
"We believe the mobile web can compete with app stores for distribution," says dotplay's CEO Iskander Pataudi
Investment Bounceback
M&A is on the rise for the third quarter in a row
That's according to Drake Star whose latest Global Gaming Report for Q2 only carries good news on the games industry's rebound
Lively Layoffs
Lively Studio undergoes layoffs for the sake of "long-term health"
The Keywords subsidiary will reportedly lay off a small number of people, while sister studio Electric Square remains unaffected
Mobile Mavens
Mobile Mavens: How is the trend for cross-platform changing the state of gaming?
Our Mavens share their thoughts on appeal of taking your game cross-platform and what the current trend means for the future of the games industry